April Glaser

A Broken System Helped the FCC Kill Net Neutrality. It Afflicts the Whole Government.

It is clear that the online comment system at the Federal Communications Commission, and very likely other public agencies, is easily exploitable and likely broken to the point that it’s causing more harm than good. Though it may seem like an arcane issue, it’s a big problem. When it comes to crafting new federal policies, the notice and comment process might be the only direct way a member of the public can have a voice in federal decision-making. Regulators are legally required to consider opinions shared by Americans.

Where to Draw the Line on Deplatforming

As a general principle, internet service providers aren’t supposed to erect barriers between the users they serve and the websites those users want to visit. They tend to observe this rule even in places like Australia and New Zealand that don’t have net neutrality policies that prevent ISPs from blocking access to websites. An exception tends to be when those takedowns come at the behest of law enforcement, perhaps out of concern for public safety. But the telecoms companies in New Zealand and Australia didn’t decide to kick websites offline in collaboration with law enforcement.

Sen Harris grilled Sheryl Sandberg about Facebook's struggle with hate speech

In one particularly revealing line of questioning during the Sept 5 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Sen Kamala Harris (D-CA) asked Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg how Facebook makes money and whether the company’s hate-speech policies are truly aimed to protect vulnerable communities that are often the subject of prejudice and animus. Her point was that there’s a real question as to whether Facebook, a company whose first responsibility is to its shareholders, is adequately poised to address false news, hate speech, or any other harmful—and highly engaging—content that users generate.

Net neutrality is officially dead. Here’s how you’ll notice it’s gone.

The internet is already massively concentrated, with just a few platforms commanding the majority of people’s time online. Once those entrenched powers can start to set the price for priority service, they stand to become even more powerful. Those smaller websites that are taking longer to load may slowly start to disappear too, and the great promise of the internet—that there’s no telling what someone might create next—may become an even more distant dream. So be on the lookout over the next few weeks for notices from your internet service provider with changes to your terms of service.

All the Ways the FCC’s Process for Killing Net Neutrality Has Been Really Shady

The docket where the Federal Communications Commission has solicited public input has been saturated with fraudulent comments in favor of repeal—from bots, Russian email addresses, stolen identities, and even dead people. There was also a cyberattack on the comment system, an incident currently under investigation by the Office of Government Affairs.

FCC Chairman Rushing to Crush Net Neutrality Complained in 2014 About Rushed Process to Enshrine It

Back in May 2014, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai (he was a lowly commissioner back then) complained that the FCC was moving too fast on net neutrality changes.  “Indeed, on several recent issues, many say that the Commission has spent too much time speaking at the American people and not enough time listening to them,” then-Commissioner Pai said in response to then-Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposed open internet regulations, which at the time drew criticism from both Republicans and Democrats on the commission.

President Trump's FCC Is About to Destroy Net Neutrality, and Commissioner Rosenworcel Is Calling Foul

Network neutrality is on its deathbed, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, appointed by President Donald Trump, is about to pull the plug. But not everyone on the FCC is gunning to undo the hard-won net neutrality protections. The FCC started soliciting comments from the public on Chairman Pai’s proposal to end network neutrality in May. More than 22 million comments came in, but there have been so many serious irregularities with the process that FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel thinks the FCC needs to slam on the brakes.

Facebook built a helicopter-drone to provide wireless internet to disaster areas

Facebook announced what it’s calling “Tether-tenna technology,” essentially a small, unmanned helicopter that will provide Wi-Fi access to crisis zones when existing Wi-Fi towers are down or damaged. The helicopter-drone, which is roughly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, is literally tethered to a fiber line and a power source on the ground, which enables the chopper to stay airborne for days at a time. (Facebook says its goal is to keep it up for weeks or months.)

The Tether-tenna technology is still in early testing, which means it isn’t being deployed to actual disaster areas just yet, said Yael Maguire, head of Facebook’s connectivity lab. Maguire — whose team also built Facebook’s internet-beaming drone, Aquila, and is laying hundreds of miles of fiber cable in Africa to increase access to the internet there — estimates that one helicopter could connect “in the neighborhood of thousands to tens of thousands of people.” The Aquila drone hasn’t been deployed yet either; the aircraft was damaged after it crashed upon landing during a test flight last summer.

What Silicon Valley can expect under Trump

Since the election, President Trump has named only a handful of appointments to serve his administration, making it difficult to grok what a Trump presidency means for many of the complex issues that are dear to Silicon Valley — like immigration, network neutrality, self-driving cars and surveillance. Here’s what we know:

Merger-friendly appointments: AT&T’s $85 billion bid for Time Warner is currently under review by the Justice Department. And despite what Trump said on the campaign trail against the proposed merger, the individuals Trump picked to oversee the DOJ transition have a history helping large, private companies get their way with US regulatory agencies.
Skilled worker visas: One thing Trump has been clear on is his determination to tighten US borders. But when it comes to H1B visas — the program for foreign nationals working in highly skilled jobs like computer science and engineering — Trump has been less direct.
Industry-friendly regulations for self-driving cars and the gig economy: Trump announced in December that he will nominate Elaine Chao, former chief of the Department of Labor under the Bush administration, to head the Department of Transportation. Though she has little experience with self-driving cars, at a confirmation hearing earlier this month Chao hinted that she’s in favor of a light regulatory agenda that won’t get in the way of continued tech development in the nascent industry.
More digital surveillance: Trump is coming into power at a time when the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, is stepping down. Whoever Trump picks to fill the position will likely echo the new president’s philosophy on surveillance, which many privacy advocates see as particularly onerous.
Network neutrality faces extinction: Trump’s reported pick for the FCC Chairmanship, Commissioner Ajit Pai, is expected to roll back the 2015 network neutrality rules, which were created to keep internet providers like Comcast and Verizon from charging websites like Netflix and Facebook an extra fee to reach internet users at faster speeds.

For the sake of national security, Donald Trump needs to trade in his cellphone

As president-elect, Donald Trump has continued to use his Android device as his primary means for both keeping in touch with associates and expressing his displeasure with news outlets and “Saturday Night Live.” But experts say that, as president, Trump really needs to use something a whole lot more secure.

We’ve asked the transition team what kind of smartphone Donald Trump intends to use when he assumes the Oval Office on Jan 20 and have yet to get a response. Trump won’t have to figure this out on his own. There’s even an agency specifically tasked with supporting the president’s telecommunications needs, the White House Communications Agency. And the Secret Service, which has to protect the president, is likely to weigh in as well. As to whether government agencies can force Trump to give up his current phone, it’s complicated. Trump may resist technical security measures imposed on him by the Secret Service. However, by law, their protection of the president is mandatory and cannot be declined.

Trump’s new telecom advisers are a good sign for the AT&T and Time Warner deal, despite his threats against the merger

While the president-elect railed against companies like NBCUniversal and Amazon for being too big and threatened antitrust action during his campaign, the advisers President-elect Trump named to help oversee his Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department transitions have a history of being very pro-industry and anti-regulation, particularly when it comes to mergers.

That’s good news for AT&T’s $85 billion bid for Time Warner, despite what President-elect Trump said on the campaign trail. The merger is currently under review by antitrust regulators at the Justice Department, where a decision will probably not be reached until President Trump is in office. Jeff Eisenach, who President-elect Trump officially named to help transition the FCC, has supported major media mergers proposed in recent years. When Comcast was considering a Time Warner takeover in 2013, Eisenach wrote, “The best thing that could happen for U.S. consumers would be substantial consolidation in the cable business.” And when AT&T wanted to purchase T-Mobile in 2011, Eisenach likewise argued in favor of the merger, pointing out, "The wireless market is extremely competitive.” Mark Jamison, the person Trump named to help with the FCC transition, also argued in favor of the AT&T and T-Mobile merger. Of Trump’s three new advisers for the transition of the Justice Department — J. Patrick Rowan, Jessie Liu and Ronald Tenpas — none specialize in mergers and acquisitions, but all three have extensive experience in helping large, private companies navigate the US regulatory landscape. Rowan has helped counsel at least one sale of a US telecom company to a foreign buyer.

Here’s what large tech companies lost when Trump’s win killed the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Here’s what American technology companies would have gotten had the Trans-Pacific Partnership been finalized.

  • The TPP’s e-commerce chapter included the world’s first set of international trade rules that would have barred governments from blocking how companies share data across national borders.The Internet works by freely moving data across the world.
  • In many of the participating countries it is not currently illegal to break the digital rights management, a digital lock that technology companies can add to their products to prevent piracy, tinkering and repair.
  • Six of the twelve participating countries would have expanded their copyright terms an additional 20 years.
  • Tech companies also were in favor of the TPP’s ban on “forced localization,” or laws that require a company to keep its citizens’ user data stored within its borders.

Salesforce CEO says companies buy each other for the data, and the government isn't doing anything about it

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says US regulators didn't pay proper attention to Microsoft’s purchase of LinkedIn, which he sees as a grab for data, not an acquisition of a social network. Salesforce entered Microsoft’s territory when it acquired Quip, a word processing app, earlier in 2016. “Microsoft wants to maintain their monopoly, and doesn’t want innovation in that area,” said Benioff. “So they’re going to say, ‘Now we’re going to integrate all this LinkedIn stuff into Office, so why would you want Quip?’”

Benioff said he pressed the Federal Trade Commission to review Microsoft’s LinkedIn deal for potential antitrust violations, but the agency decided not to investigate. Benioff, of course, made his own play for LinkedIn but failed to reach a deal. The European Commission, however, is looking into it. In Oct, the antitrust authority at the European Commission sent questionnaires to Microsoft’s competitors as they review the merger. Benioff contends the acquisition is anticompetitive because Microsoft can hinder access to LinkedIn’s data, making it harder for competitors.

Why you can’t vote online

You can bank online and shop online, but you can’t vote online. After all, transferring thousands of dollars with a click of a button should require more security than ticking a box on an electronic ballot, right? Wrong.

Online banking works by heavily verifying users’ identities, but, by law, voting in American elections has to be anonymous, which greatly complicates verifying voter identification. And although shopping online seems to work fine, billions are lost in the U.S. each year from Internet credit card scamming. But customers aren’t held financially responsible for fraudulent internet transactions, as banks don’t want to discourage online shoppers. American elections can’t afford to absorb that kind of risk. Results need to be tallied fast and, most importantly, be absolutely, verifiably correct. Five states do currently allow for military and overseas voters to submit their ballots through an online portal: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Missouri and North Dakota. None are swing states. But until there’s some radical new discovery in computer security, experts across the board say Americans’ best best is to record paper ballots for the foreseeable future. The convenience is just not worth the risk.

President Obama says the US government still doesn't know who shut down the Internet on Oct 21

It’s still unclear who is responsible for Oct 21’s massive Internet outages, according to President Barack Obama. The attack was comprised of hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of Internet-connected devices that sent junk traffic to Dyn, a major domain name service provider. The attack took down major sections of the Internet across the United States for hours. Basic security flaws found in webcams and other Internet-connected recording devices were compromised in the attack, according to Chinese device manufacturer Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology, which admitted its products were partially to blame. A recall of Hangzhou Xiongmai products has been initiated. But other IoT device makers were targeted, too. Still, no one seems to know who perpetrated it. And it may take weeks to find out. "We don't have any idea who did that,” said President Obama.